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Thomas D’Arcy O’Donnell's avatar

haha.. & who else ‘greets the new morning 2025 better ? .. Hola ! 🧨 & rock th casbah ms Bassano ! 🦎🏴‍☠️💋

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Thanks, my friend and a happy productive new year to you! Thanks for reading here at Leaves all year! I am grateful!

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Jill CampbellMason's avatar

Sunshine and snow-a fine couple to share a mailbox🌈

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

No snow here, but the mail box stands at the ready. Thank you, Jill for all your kind comments this past year. I am so happy you like these little buts and bobs. I wish you the best on new years.

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Jill CampbellMason's avatar

No snow? You must be in the south. The best of the New Year to you as well!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Central California coast. Id have to head for the Sierra to find snow.

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Jill CampbellMason's avatar

Just what I did as a baby when living in San Bernadino--up to e mountains for the snow!

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AnnieKate Nicholson-Phillips's avatar

What do I want to receive

In my mailbox

Silly as it sounds

A dragon’s egg

Cracking along the center line

I feel I am a voyeur

Peeking into life

Struggles

Of another very

Sacred pale purple being

She emerges with a chirp of

Frustration, determination

Gratitude, freedom?

Deep breath and a puff

Of smoke, release.

It takes her a moment

To recognize she is

Confined in the mailbox -

Except for the open end

Filled with my face.

She cocks her head

Like any curious dog.

Scoffs, another puff of smoke

And I am dust:

In love.

She waddles to the open end

Perches on the little door.

And to my shoulder flies

No hesitation.

We walk the path to home.

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Kate Henry's avatar

Pet dragons are a good thing. Do they flame the junk mail? That would be a perk. You must have the large rural mail box that can fit 3 adult cats.... or 7 squirrels. I have 9 white ones and one black in the middle. "Zorro" had #5 till he left to live with his son. The new ones smile just a little when I tell them they inherited the name. ))

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I envision quite a lineup of mailboxes in front of your rural, multiple-dwelling home. It would make a grand photo, don't you think?

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

A dragon's egg -- a lifetime commitment. Yikes! You are much braver than I, AnnieKate. I hope you are posting this comment over at Annie's Substack, so that more will see it. I wish you a happy, productive new year!

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James Ron's avatar

Hey, I've seen that mailbox before! My mailbox is a daily source of optimism, sometimes I'm surprised by what arrives. I wish my cigars would arrive, they are overdue. That free shipping deal sounds good, Sharron!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

You have PARKED in front of that mailbox, my friend. Good luck getting those cigars, kid. I ordered a calendar for myself from Amazon. It arrived, I opened the package and then lost the calendar. I have searched every cupboard and drawer. Gone. ! I worry about my brain...

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Janice Walton's avatar

Mailboxes don't offer the magic they used to - now the mail is primarily ads or organizations wanting money - but I'll keep checking just in case . . .

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I guess the secret is to mail-order stuff once in a while -- to Janice from Janice... Ha ha ha

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C J O'Hare's avatar

My postman calls himself "the bringer of good news." The sarcasm is tangible - brown envelopes only through my doors thee days (bills) 😔

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Those brown envelopes -- a scourge on humanity

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Sue Cauhape's avatar

While winning the lottery or the sweepstakes would be awesome, all I want in my mailbox is a big, fat check from the SSA, one that's big enough to actually pay the bills.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

I got a $13 raise this year. Enough to buy one pound of beef... Big Whoo.

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Sue Cauhape's avatar

same here. It actually boosted me over $600. If only I didn't have that huge chunk that pays for my worthless health insurance (Medicare), I'd almost have a grand. ooooooo!

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Meg Oolders's avatar

A winning lottery ticket would be nice. 😊

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Now you’re talking! Or a coupon for a free case of gin

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"Like a fool I went and stayed too long/Now I'm wondering if your love's still strong.."

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

OWWWW! Baby I'm yours! Yeah. Okay Are we giving away our age here?

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Richbee's avatar

A rural mailbox with a Valentine’s Day card that got lost in the mail years ago. It’s never too late for love.

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K.C. Knouse's avatar

Pepto Bismol pink, spot on. I installed a secure mailbox, but the mail gets misdelivered so often around here, I often wonder if it was worth the cost. A wonderful reflection on the wonders of receiving snail-mail, Sharron. Stevie Wonder singing. Lots of wondering going on.

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T. D. Wolf's avatar

Is there still a Readers Digest?

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Yes there is. Mail order subscription. BUT only the really really old and demented are allowed to subscribe. I look forward to receiving mine every month.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

I fondly remember those days, long ago, when I was excited to check the mailbox. Now it is mainly just to clean it out and dump the contents in the recycling bin.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Ahhh, but you never know, Mark. Today bills and junk, tomorrow two free tickets to a nearby Austin Lounge Lizards gig., with the Rev Billy C Wirtz sitting in!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Dude! I'm there. I don't even get bills. I only have an electric bill (we rent), and it is paperless. Well, that is not true. I also have a couple of streaming service bills (also paperless.) I do get a lot of AARP stuff. The magazine, the scare old people with things to worry about newsletter, and a couple thousand renewal offers each year.

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Sharon Hudson's avatar

What a great piece, Sharron! Something we take for granted, but has the power to change our day, or our lives! The main thing the mail lady brings to us, is a nice walk down the lane to the mailbox. Some days it's raining, and when a car drives by, we have to step off to the side of the lane, into the weeds and mud. But in spring, the walk is glorious, with all the wildflowers, and trees with green buds, and blossoms. What would I like to see in my mailbox? A guarantee of free home care, in my old age, so I can live here forever!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Well, shoot. If you are going to dream, dream big, girl! I love it that the mailbox is the impetus for your daily exercise. At the end of any day, you can assuage your conscience with “ Well… at least I picked up the mail.”

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Sharon Hudson's avatar

That's about the size of it Sharron..."The Green Mile." Ha Ha!

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

🩷🌿

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

Mailboxes offer such perennial potential, don't they? We don't have them over here - most houses have a letterbox, which is a slit-with-a-flap cut into the front door of the house, and the postman puts the letters through it into the house. The small block of flats I used to live in had six letterboxes, and post would land from outside into metal boxes in the communal hallway, one for each flat.

I was obsessed by the post as a child - every time we'd arrive back from holiday I would clamour to be the one who 'dealt with the post'. I'd make piles - one for each recipient - and although none of the post would be for me - well, rarely - I was always really interested in it.

When I went through a particularly stroppy belated teenage phase (okay, between the ages of 19 and 26) I would DREAD any post arriving, in case it was a bank statement or a bill, and even now I have a nasty habit of putting to one side anything that looks like that kind of thing in favour of any handwritten envelopes. Thursday only ever brings junk mail, and I have an 'I'm not even going to LOOK at that' policy for that sort of thing.

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Glad to see you could identify with this subject, Rebecca. Mailboxes! Such outmoded things, but those who grew up with them are still attached. I rarely find something of interest, but I haven't lost hope of winning something. You never know. Thanks for reading at Leaves this morning, my friend. THAT particular mail must be quite daunting. I give you full permission to just hit the delete button on some of these missives. I send out too much stuff, I know. Mercifully, they are usually quite short...

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Rebecca Holden's avatar

LOL - you do NOT send out too much stuff, not at all! It’s all brilliant! I’ll get my act together soon and finally catch up - there is so much amazing reading to do! xxx

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